I do not own Hetalia.

The part of town where you really don't want to be at night, the area of the city that you only go to because you've been invited to see something 'special'. The large concrete building was dark and seemingly calm-on the outside. Underneath the first floor, not quite the basement, was a floor filled with contagious energy. People were buzzing in the stands spilling their drinks like barbarians and shouting like animals. In the center was something that resembled a pit, the audience was beginning to build a steady roar. A quick punch smack in the center of Romano's jaw. He stumbled back a foot or two before delivering a solid jab to his opponent's ribs, a loud crack sounded, he swung his fist back and slammed it into the others face with the strength that only a boxer could achieve. His opponent fell with a loud thud and the noise that the crowd was building up exploded, in the middle of so much attention he could only hear faint echoes. Romano stood in the center of the ring, full of adrenaline and completely focused. He looked down at the teen not much older than himself try to pick himself up, the crowd was really yelling now...one…two…three.. he counted in his head slowly. The strong build was doing nothing for the other teen. Now his muscles only succeeded in pulling him back to the ground. He could hear Feliciano cheering somewhere close by ...six...seven. "And it's a knock-out! " boomed the announcer, the man probably hadn't seen such a textbook knock-out in so long. Anyone with a good pair of eyes could see that the fighter would not be getting up. With that Romano made his way towards the thin wired gate that had boxed in the fighters. He allowed himself a discrete exhausted smile, more to himself than for the crowd.

Feliciano was standing by with a clean rag as soon as Romano stepped down from the ring.

"Fratello! You did great, maybe one day itll be both of us in there, right?" Feliciano joked, passing the rag to his brother who gladly took it and wiped the sweat from his face.

"Christ, no." replied the slightly older brother while opening the door to a semi packed locker room. The two walked down a narrow stretch of lockers before stopping at one. After fidgeting with his lock for a moment Romano opened up his locker and began to change out of his dirty clothes."I'd rather have you run off and join a hipster country band than fight in this shit-hole." he finally replied now fully clothed. Feliciano laughed once more, the comment wasnt exactly aimed for a harsh tone, but most likely Romano talking out of his ass for reputations sake. He seemed pretty tired. They both knew that Romano secretly loved the fights, they were the only way he could get his anger out of his system without being arrested. Not that the underground fight scene was any more legal, but at least this way the brothers got by a lot easier than a shitty job at a cafe.

"Ve ready to go, Roma?"

"Yea hold up. I gotta pick up my money from Yao."

The two brothers entered an office down the hall a floor up from the locker rooms and away from the chaos of the arena. You would have never guessed anything was amuck. Inside was an effeminate looking man behind a desk with a pile of envelopes and paperwork stacked high, standing next to him was one of Feliciano's friends that he had made while wandering around the building. "Kiku! I missed you so much, buddy!" Feliciano reached around the desk hugging the assistant. Feliciano was always up for public affection unlike Romano who tended to have a more prickly persona than most.

Yao turned to Romano "Good job today, Vargas, keep the knock-outs coming and we'll be selling out every night."

This is good thought Romano. Compliments didn't come easy, especially from Yao who's seen plenty of amuter fighters looking for easy pay by joining a fight night. When an occasional good word came out it meant more money in that envelope.

"Say thank you" Yao said holding out an envelope labeled Vargas.

"Uh, yea thanks." replied Romano, grabbing the money. "See you Monday Kiku, Ciao!" waved Feliciano.

Outside was cold and dark. Most people were long gone and eager to get home to their families. The fog had begun to set in making it easy pickings for late night thieves and sinister opportunists. Only elderly men playing a lazy game of cards on their porch were to be seen. Despite what the night reflected the younger of the two maintained a happy demeanour. Feliciano had the ability to talk for hours even if no one was particularly listening. Romano quietly appreciated this skill about his brother, especially on Saturday mornings when there was nothing to watch. But this wasn't a Saturday morning and was currently telling him to stop talking. Feliciano slowed down his tangent. "Ah-" he fiddled his thumbs "...by the way Grandpa said he can't pick us up" Feliciano mumbled out.

"What?"

"I thought you didn't want me to talk anymore-" he beamed.

"What the fuck. Are you saying that were gonna have to walk all the way home because Grandpa is dicking around!" Romano huffed. He was already pissed that he hadn't brought a better jacket.

"It's not that bad, Roma." Feliciano said opening up his backpack.

"Here! Grandpa did make a bunch of Carbonara before leaving. It's still kinda warm." he handed him a container of pasta filled to the brim.

"Yes! thank God." sighed Romano. Fight days meant being trapped in the building all night until your match started or waiting to fill in for another fighter if they got beat up too bad. In other words no time to go out and eat proper meal. Feliciano took out a jacket as well, putting it on while blowing warm air into the palm of his hands.

The brothers were crossing the street when a car zoomed past them just barely missing them, causing Romano to grab his brother and drop the food he had just been handed."Shit! are you kidding me?". Romano looked up at the speeding car locking eyes briefly with apologetic ones. He returned with ones of annoyance.

"Wonder what he was in a hurry for." chimed in Feliciano.

"What am I suppose to eat now?"cried out Romano.

"Hope he gets there on time.." Feliciano mumbled. "Damnit Feli! Worry about yourself."

After walking a few more blocks Feliciano had calmed Romano down, he was still hungry and Feliciano was beginning to feel the same. His stomach rumbled. "Hey Roma! Look a store, lets get something to eat! I kinda want some some wine." Feliciano pointed out a convenience store across the street.

"Feli we can't, this money is for the rent and all the other crap we need." He felt bad saying no.

"No problem!" Feliciano smiled and crossed the street towards the store. no no no Romano knew what he really meant. He walked faster to catch up with his brother. Feliciano had always been ballsier than him.

"Don't worry Roma. It'll be fine just follow me." Feliciano laughed.

"Put your hood on dumbass!" he hissed while putting on his own. "Oh yeah."

They walked in heads down. "Remember I want wine." Feliciano whispered once they were at the back of the convenience store near the chips and refrigerated drinks. Feliciano took off his backpack and handed it to Romano and walked to the front of the store. The only person that Feliciano could see working was a rather large intimidating blond man at the register. The blond man was watching the camera monitors intently, arms crossed, back straight. eeeh hes kinda scary isnt he? He thought a little nervous now. Hope this works!

Feliciano looked back to his brother who was still at the back of the store. Romano gave a very small nod signaling that he was ready for whatever Feliciano had planned. Feliciano took a deep breath and coughed.

He coughed harshly. He coughed again-loudly. The man looked his way now.. and away from the camera monitors.

He coughed again bringing his hand to his chest as if to catch his breath. Another set of coughs sprang from him each more throaty and labored than the last."U-uh, are you alright?". The man was getting up from behind the register, looking like he wanted to help but not exactly sure what to do. Feliciano could see Romano moving around in his peripheral vision.

Since his brother Gilbert was out at Francis house having a welcome home party for one of his friends, Ludwig had to manage the store for the night. He had finished his school work long ago, which meant that all he had to do was watch the camera monitors. 'Make sure no one steals anything, Ludwig' was all that Gilbert expected of him.

He looked down at his watch to check the time, it read 1:34 A.M in a mechanic neon green.

Ludwig felt a slight breeze. Two guys came in, both wearing hoodies and one with a backpack.. mein Gott the last thing we need is another robbery, he thought as one of the two started walking over towards the register.

He was ready to grab the cross tire hidden underneath the register before the guy stopped abruptly. And started coughing… and then didn't stop.

"U-uh, are you alright?." He hesitantly got up from behind the counter.

The guy was really hacking now, he held one hand out, as if asking for help before another wave of coughs wracked his body. He fell to the floor, his hand was clutching at his chest and curled inwards.

"Hey! What's wrong do you want me to call an ambulance? Talk to me!" Ludwig said a little panicked. He got down to the floor leaning over him to see if he was even breathing.

"Do you have Asth-", CRASH.

.

.

"Damn…". Romano hissed. He had dropped one of the wine bottles.

Feliciano looked up from the floor at his brother and muffled a laugh into his hand. The blond snapped his head back down at him. "YOU-".

"Andiamo!" Romano yelled at him. Feliciano didn't need to be told twice. Romano rushed forward grabbing his by the arm while pushing the blond out of the way. They ran out of the store and down into the foggy street until their lungs burned. A good couple of blocks away the brothers began to slow down. The siblings leaned against an out of order vending machine. Feliciano pulled out one of the stolen bottles of cheap wine and took a swig. "Haha! Roma you got to admit that that was just a teeny bit fun?" he said passing the bottle. "God no, your just lucky the guy thought you were dying or something" Feliciano flushed. " ve...That guy must have been real dense. Anyone who's ever worked at liquor store should have been able to tell what we were doing. " Romano inhaled the distinct smell of the bottle, admiring the familiarity that came with the pungent scent. He tipped the bottle back and took a few satisfying gulps. Romano felt good, well he always felt better after a successful fighting day. They were almost home just a few blocks away from their small italian neighborhood, the bus would have been an easier way to get home but the bus that the siblings would have taken had been down for weeks. No news of repairing or even reliable schedule times for a replacement shuttle was to be heard of. Lately in the city money was spent on more important things-not fixing bus lines on the 'bad' side of town.

The Vargas brothers lived with their unusually handsome grandfather in an apartment above a russian bakery. Their neighborhood was a fairly close community, most had been living in the same homes and owned the same small business for years. The boarding house that they lived in had quite a diverse group of occupants despite the men living in a primarily Italian neighborhood. Most of the residents of the area had rather eccentric personalities and meant having to handle the energy that buzzed around. Including Francis and his late night parties. For whatever reason the frenchmen was going all out on this one, the brothers could see light flashing from the windows and could practically feel the vibrations of music from the sidewalk.

"Im not drunk enough to put up with this bullshit."Romano puffed some warm air into his palms.

"Ve~ I am!" Feliciano skipped up the steps and unlocked the door. Immediate chaos party guests were sucking face and dancing in the hallway making the already small walkway smaller. Hercules cats were everywhere. From down the hall Romano could hear Roderich was playing "Kupelwieser-Walzer" on his piano as loud as he possibly could. "Eeew..!" Romano glanced behind over his shoulder someone had thrown up on Feliciano's shoe.

Well this is fucking annoying, Romano could practically feel himself getting angrier by the second. On top of it the other tenants Arthur and Elizaveta both decided to make their complaints heard-by banging on the frenchman's door. The two were yelling profanities and making promising threats. Francis parties did have a tendency to get a bit out of control especially when his friend Gilbert was over. This was just ridiculous though.

"Romano-baby!" Elizaveta finally noticed his presence and approached him. She was gripping a frying pan."Get Francis out here and kick his ass." She said seriously and now was gripping shoulders tightly. "You know I'd do it but the kindergarten found out about my last assault charge and I can't afford to lose this job!" Elizaveta pleaded.

"Kitty!" Feliciano cheered from behind them. The man causing so much hate emerged from his door. "I am far too gorgeous to have been in a stuffy room for so long." responded Francis to one of Arthur's comments.

"I am far too gorgeous to- Shut up Francis!" mocked Arthur. Romano stepped over a drunken body and looked back at his brother. "Feli!" he yelled getting his attention. "ve?"Feliciano responded, still playing with the cat. "Go to the apartment, I'll be there in a second."

"Can I bring the kitty?"

"oh my god.. sure! just go home." Romano waited until Feliciano was out of sight. He walked to the doorway and stood standing in front of Francis. Arthur and Elizaveta watched behind him like a highschool possy about to make a point.

"Alright, asshole." he slurred "Turn the music down. And either get your drunks in your apartment or on the street!" just towards the end, Romano began to realize that he was probably more drunk than what he was leading on. Francis must have noticed this because he leaned over him slowly "Aw. Look at your face its getting red. Have you been drinking? I know how you boys love your wine." He tilted Romano's chin with a the slide of a finger leaning Romano's face to his face. "So handsome but undoubtedly cute!" Francis glanced over to Arthur and winked.

"This weatherman is predicting a shit-storm..."

"wha-?"

"And it's coming right at you, bitch!"

Maybe I am drunk Romano thought. Regardless he grabbed the frying pan in Elizaveta hand and hit Francis square on the shoulder.

Francis grasped his shoulder in pain, stumbling to hold the doorway before falling to the ground. Romano could hear Arthur cracking up loudly behind him.

"Thank you, honey." Elizaveta patted his back.

Romano walked up the staircase taking a cat on the way.

Feliciano was rolling in his sheets by the time Romano got to the apartment. It was small a apartment in the coziest way possible. The two brothers and their grandfather respected whatever they were given, they didn't complain about the american styled home or the leaky sink pipe or the fact that the two only windows they had were painted shut or the ugly textured walls or even the piss poor excuse for a laundry room. Nope, no sir they did not. "damn, I forgot to clean the kitchen again." eh. I'll just do it tomorrow. They kept their humble apartment as clean as possible-they were gentlemen after all. No doubt, this was their home and it felt safe. Feliciano and Romano shared a room since they were small. One side was filled with Feliciano's schoolwork and paintings while Romano's side was a bit more bare, though it always managed to look much messier. Romano spent more time in the living room with the T.V, if he wasn't out working. Grandpa's room was across from them, the living room and kitchenette separated them.

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"Romano?"

"Yea.."

"Kiku says a new set of fighters are coming in this week, is that true?"

"I think so."

"yay! Arent you nervous of the new fighters?"

"Why whould I? Im the best at what I do. No ones gonna take it away from me."

"I believe you."